It was a shootout in the beginning. It was a different game in the second half. But most of all, it was the win Stanhope Elmore needed as the Mustangs earned their first region win of the year with a 48-26 victory over Chelsea. But it was not all a walk in the park, especially in the first half.

The first half of the game was nothing more than two fighters trading punches. One would get knocked down and get up and do the same to the other guy. It was back and forth. It was an exciting two periods of football for fans because it was the anxiety of a struggle. The Mustangs scored on their first snap from scrimmage as B.J. Smith darted through a hole in the line and flew 89 yards for a touchdown. Chelsea took a little time to deliver its punch but it came about 3 minutes later as the Hornets scored to make it 7-7.The Mustangs would have none of it and scored on the first snap of its second possession (also their second name of the game) and this time it was Jeremy Powers making it look easy on his 67 yard run. About another 3 minutes later Chelsea made it to the Mustangs end zone and the score was level at 14 all. The Mustangs came back but this time it took 6 plays to score when Smith dashed into the end zone from the Hornets 33 yard line. Chelsea came back and about 2 minutes later the Hornets scored, but mixed the extra point leaving themselves behind 21-20.

The Mustangs started in good field position after the Hornets kickoff when Martel Watson returned the pigskin to midfield and just missed breaking all the way for a touchdown. Five plays later Jaryus Wilson scored on a quarterback keeper, and with Angel Vasquez’s extra point the Mustangs led 28-20. But, once again, Chelsea got back and delivered another punch 3 minutes later, fumbled the 2-point conversion attempt and the teams vacated the field for intermission with Stanhope Elmore leading the thriller 28-26.

But things changed in the second half. “We made some adjustments on defense and it was the right thing to do. We came out with different alignments and back off putting so much pressure on them, and it worked well,” Mustangs head coach Jeff Foshee said. The Mustangs showed some maturity on defense, stuck with their adjustments and kept Chelsea off the scoreboard in the second half. It was a major victory for the defense. “It is a big plus for the defense to do what they did in the second half. We still have a problem with mis-tackles and we got to work on that, but they did play well in the second half,” Foshee acknowledged. The good news doesn’t end with the defensive effort in the second half. The offense powered its way into the end zone 3 times in the final quarter to pull away from Chelsea. Powers scored to begin the fourth quarter from 18 yards out. After the defense forced Chelsea to punt Powers marched into the end zone one more time from 46 yards away to put the Mustangs comfortably ahead 42-26.

With 3 minutes remaining reserve Mustangs quarterback Bishop Frazier ran around left end to complete the scoring for the game. The offense showed some maturity by holding on to the ball. The Mustangs committed no turnovers against Chelsea. “That’s a sign of some players maturing with the game. We preach constantly about protecting the football, especially after the trouble turnovers have caused us. The offense did a great job of taking care of the ball. This game is a lot easier when you don’t give up the ball,” Foshee said. “Just winning this game and putting us in the right direction was critical for us. Had we lost this one it would have hit us real hard. This was a very big win.”

The Mustangs are 2-2 overall and will host Jeff Davis this week in a non-region contest.

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